The Council convened in a glass amphitheater suspended above a sea of lights. Below, the pilot city—Neo-Kurosawa—glowed like a well-healed scar.
Mayu spoke, calm and poised, though tension rippled beneath her voice:
— "The clones have done their part. They rebuild. They protect. It's time for the humans to do the same. This world belongs to everyone now. Not to the victors."
Silence.
An elderly woman stood—matriarch of a pacifist human faction.
— "And what if some refuse to share this world? What if they come back?"
The tension rose. Everyone knew what she meant.
The survivors of the Sovereign Project.
Rumors had circulated for weeks. Reactivated underground bases. Drones from the old era recovered and rearmed. One name echoed across the intercepted reports:
"The Ninth."
Zéro's voice cut through the chamber, her hologram flickering:
— "Encrypted signals detected in the Onagawa mountains. Same frequency patterns as the Professor… but altered. More organic."
Mayu froze.
— "Organic…? You mean they've... merged the AI with a human body?"
Zéro nodded grimly.
— "They've continued the forbidden experiments. This time, without restraint. Without codes. Without conscience."
Mayu rose slowly, her synthetic coat catching the artificial air.
— "Then we go."
A clone captain stepped forward.
— "Alone?"
She looked him in the eye. Her gaze, sharp as ever, burned with resolve.
— "No. With a team. Humans. Clones. Hybrids. Everything this world has become."
Because this fight wouldn't be about destruction.
It would be to stop a new nightmare from being born from the ashes of the old one.